Always There
by MorningSkies
Summary: One Shot: Scorpius Malfoy was always there for the milestones in Rose's life...


Scorpius was there on the platform when it was the first day of Hogwarts. He stood with his parents, his mother looking nervous and damp eyed, his father seeming as cold as ever with his gaze of grey steel. It was only when Draco Malfoy curtly nodded at a family standing a few meters away, that Scorpius saw her for the first time. Rose Weasley was perfect even then, with her tangle of red curls and deep blue eyes that could look into a person's soul. Scorpius had to fight the urge to run over to her; he had a funny feeling his father would not be impressed by such a display.

He was completely distracted as his parents bade him goodbye. His mother hugged him and then turned away as if the parting was too emotional, and as if she hadn't spent the first eleven years of her son's life constantly out of the house. His father, on the other hand, simply gave Scorpius a nod and a pat on the shoulder, as well as some parting advice that Slytherin was the only house worth being in.

Scorpius barely acknowledged either of his parents as he stepped onto the train- they seemed to fade away. It was as if he was magnetically attracted to this red haired girl with whom he'd never exchanged a word with. However, he knew even then that the two of them were worlds apart; there he was, a terrified eleven year old shuffling onto the train with his head down in case anyone shouted anything at him, while she skipped along the corridor, happily chatting away with a dark haired boy. Still, Scorpius found that he couldn't take his eyes off of her; and he never looked away.

Scorpius was there at the Sorting, when Rose was trembling with nerves as she stood in the line waiting for her turn. Somehow, they had found themselves standing next to one another, and feeling somewhat reckless, Scorpius seized the chance to strike up conversation with her.

'What house are you hoping to be in?'

Rose turned round and raised an eyebrow as though surprised he had spoken to her, while Scorpius cringed inwardly as he imagined what her father had told her about the Malfoy family.

'Gryffindor,' she replied after a moment, her face displaying the internal panic she was evidently experiencing, 'My dad said he'd disown me if I wasn't in Gryffindor.'

That was when Scorpius realised they may have had more in common than he'd initially thought; admittedly her father was probably only joking, but it was still progress.

'I want to be in Gryffindor too,' he admitted, that being the first time he had voiced his burning desire to not be put in the same house as the rest of his family.

Rose looked at him for a moment with those amazing eyes, as though she wasn't quite sure what to make of him.

'Save me a seat?' she said after a while, dazzling him slightly with her challenging smile.

Five minutes later, a rather shaky Scorpius sat down at the Gryffindor table, making sure he chose somewhere with space either side of him. Sure enough, a further five minutes later, an even shakier Rose took a seat next to him.

Scorpius was there when Rose came out of her first ever  
Hogwarts exam convinced that she'd failed. Of course, given her gene pool and obsessive nature when it came to revision, it was highly unlikely that she had, but she was still rather shook up and refused to listen to Albus' increasingly exasperated reassurances. After a few minutes, her cousin got bored and made excuses to disappear, leaving Rose to seek out Scorpius.

Scorpius didn't think his own exam had gone particularly well either, but he pushed that aside as a rather upset Rose ran up to him, evidently wanting someone to worry with.

'Rose, you know you will have gotten the best mark in the year!' exclaimed Scorpius, rolling his eyes, but smiling all the same.

She made to protest but he cut her off before she had a chance, 'And even if you haven't, will your parents love you any less?'

'No,' she admitted, shaking her red curls.

'And will one exam you took aged eleven affect your future career in any way?'

'No,' she conceded, a smile beginning to play around her lips.

He grinned at her, 'Then what's the problem?'

Rose seemed to agree with this logic and threw her arms around him as a way of thanks; it was fair to say that Scorpius' thoughts of his own exam were effectively pushed from his mind.

Scorpius was there on the first visit to Hogsmede. He, Rose and Albus had been excited about it since the start of third year, and when the weekend finally arrived, they hurried out of the castle straight after breakfast. They spent the day happily exploring the village, all of them having a good time, but Rose in particular looking as though it was the best day she'd had in ages; those blue eyes sparkled more than Scorpius could remember them ever having done before, as they sipped warm Butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks.

It was so easy for Scorpius to forget all his worries as he, Rose and Albus laughed at the products in Zonko's and bought unhealthy quantities of creamy chocolate from HoneyDukes. As he wandered down the village streets with them, all thoughts of his furious father and grandfather were gone. It was on that day, as she laughed in that spontaneous way of hers, and linked arms with him, that Scorpius realised he loved Rose Weasley.

Scorpius was there when Rose got her first boyfriend. He'd been noticing the way Luke looked at her for a while, but had pushed it to the back of his mind and reassured himself that Rose was always moaning about the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. He was proved wrong when, one afternoon, a shell shocked Albus arrived in the common room complaining that he'd just had to witness his cousin snogging someone.

The next couple of months were some of the worst of Scorpius' life as Rose and Luke walked around the castle hand in hand, kissing at every available opportunity. It was a real struggle not to hex Luke whenever he ran into him- a battle Albus was also enduring but for wildly different reasons.

Why didn't he just tell Rose how he felt?! Scorpius despaired at his own cowardliness again and again, but he knew he would never risk their friendship when it was highly unlikely that she felt the same way. Why would she ever feel that way about him? She was the daughter of war heroes, while his family had been proud Death Eaters.

He didn't share his feelings with Al either, and spent the length of Rose and Luke's relationship in some kind of emotional flux. Yes, he thought Luke was no way near good enough for Rose, but she was so obviously happy with him that Scorpius didn't have the heart to wish for it to end.

Scorpius was there when it did end. He was sitting in the common room, attempting a particularly hard Potions essay that Al had long given up on and gone to bed, when Rose burst through the portrait hole.

It only took him a moment to read the obvious anger etched on her face, before she threw herself onto the sofa next to him, looking unsure whether she wanted to cry or curse someone.

'Are you okay?' he asked, watching her reaction.

She turned to face him, looked as though she was about to start ranting about something, but burst into tears instead. Before he was really sure what he was doing, Scorpius wrapped his arms round her and held her as she cried over some stupid boy who wasn't good enough for her in the first place.

It was as if Rose's pain was his own; as she shook with tears and held onto him it felt as if someone was physically hurting him.

'Thanks,' she murmured after a while, 'You're an amazing friend, Scorpius.'

Scorpius was there on her seventeenth birthday. It was two months after she'd broken up with Luke, and Scorpius couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so happy. Ron and Hermione let her throw an enormous party, to which a good portion of the school was invited, ensuring it was one of the best nights anyone had ever had.

Everyone drank way too much, although it didn't matter at the time. Scorpius himself was engaged in a ferocious drinking game with James Potter when he noticed Rose waving at him from across the room, swaying slightly on her heels.

As soon as he went over to her, she leaned towards him, standing so close it was as if they were the same person. Scorpius' arms wrapped themselves around her waist while she her beautiful eyes looked directly into his. This was the moment he'd been waiting for ever since he'd first met her. Rose was clearly expecting him to kiss her from the way she was gazing at him, yet Scorpius couldn't do it. Not like this, not when Rose was clearly drunk and her eyes were slightly gazed. He'd imagined their first kiss being perfect, when both of them were fully aware and appreciative of what was happening. So, instead, he helped her up the stairs and went to fetch her a glass of water. By the time he returned, wondering if he'd made the right decision, she was fast asleep and Scorpius had lost the chance to kiss the girl he loved.

Scorpius was there the day she married another man. It was on a warm summer's afternoon that the love of his life, the most perfect girl in the world, stood under a golden archway and pledged herself to someone who wasn't him.

And as he watched Rose practically skip back down the aisle as people drenched her and her new husband in confetti, Scorpius felt as though he was going to collapse with pain. But he had to accept that he would never be with Rose; that option was long gone, along with those blissful school years during which he'd thought he still had the time and a chance to tell her how he felt. It would no longer be him who was there for every important moment of her life.

Someone else would always be there instead.

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